Wednesday, November 30, 2011

What are some remedies for cross dominance for shooting?

For example would it be feasible to shoot a rifle with the left hand and pistol with the right?

Or do you recommend shooting both left?

Or both right?

I am a beginner, so I kind of want to learn how to shoot the right way before I develop too many bad habits.

Thanks|||Don't worry about it.

You should shoot a handgun, shotgun and machinegun with both eyes open. Your dominate eye will take over. The reason you want both eyes open is that when you are in a combat situation you want to have a full field of vision. If you close one eye, you lose that side of you and you will not be able to see a threat coming from that side.

If you are shooting a scoped rifle you should use your dominate eye and close the other.

When I shoot right or left handed I use my dominate eye, all you have to do is bring the weapon over to your dominate eye side just a little bit.

A lot of instructors get stuck on the dominate/cross eye dominate theories, the truth of the matter is to just use what works best for you. If you can leave both eyes open, then do so. If you have to close one eye, then do so. If you shoot a rifle left handed and your handgun right handed, it doesn't really matter as long as you are making consistently good hits with your weapons. I have a personal friend that is a combat veteran, he was in Mogadishu when the Black Hawk Down incident happened. He fires a rifle right handed, but shoots a pistol, shotgun and machinegun left handed.

Bruce Lee said: "The only way is no way and no way is the only way." What he meant by that is that there is no one true style or one tactic or one technique that works for every occasion or for every person.

So, what are the remedies for cross eye dominance? Use what works best for you. Don't fight what your body wants to do. Work with your body and adapt to it.|||You can shoot however works best for YOU.

IF you are left eye dominant, it would probably be easier to learn to shoot both left-handed.

MOST center-fire rifles and some semi-auto handguns can be obtained for left-handed shooters. (A revolver doesn't matter as it does NOT eject the empty cases while firing.)

As another answerer stated, you can use a patch to train yourself to use the right eye for shooting.|||I am right handed and left eye dominant. When pistol/handgun shooting, i keep both eyes open and aim with my left eye. I find that the classic weaver stance is the most comfortable and accurate.

With rifles (scoped or not) and shotguns, I close my left eye. Quite frankly, this is not a big issue for targets or hunting. Dont try to shoot a rifle or shotgun left handed, you'll drive yourself crazy.

The more important things to focus on is proper grip technique, proper shooting stance, proper sighting, etc. To really learn to shoot well, find an NRA instructor (check gun shops for contacts) and other companies that offer CCW/CHL/CPL classes. DO that as soon as possible, before you develop bad habits!|||When I was eight and at Y camp learning to shoot, it turns out that I was left eye dominant and right handed. The counselors taught me to shoot long guns left handed. As I got older, I was able to close my left eye and shoot right handed so that is how I learned to shoot hand guns. To this day I shoot hand guns right handed and alternate on long guns.

Try putting a patch over the left eye. With just the one eye functioning, you can shoot right handed without interference. Or shoot left handed, but it is harder to find left handed long guns.|||My son is like that. I bought him an eye patch at Walgreen's to wear over his left eye so he can shoot right handed. With practice he has trained his right eye to focus while shooting. http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/E鈥?/a>